Professional Hold &#39;Em Poker

ABSTRACT

A method for creating a winning sequence after meeting a betting criterion on a gaming table in a gaming system, the method has a player placing an entire stack on the gaming table according to a predetermined bet amount for a game to be played. Initiating an interrupt signal to interrupt a normal winning flow of the game, whereby the interrupt signal assigns a winning priority to the player based on the predetermined bet. Comparing a game sequence of the player with an existing first winning sequence complying with the betting criterion on the gaming table. Restricting addition of playing cards on the gaming table while the comparing is going on; and allowing a person to play for a betting amount lower than lower than a value of the betting criterion for creating a lower value winning sequence; and restricting the player to play for the lower value winning sequence to maintain playing quorum for the winning sequence.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to card playing games but more particularly to a variation on Texas Hold'em Poker.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are several variations to popular card games that have been developed in recent years such as variations on Poker, Black jack and other such popular games.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for creating a winning sequence after meeting a betting criterion on a gaming table in a gaming system, the method has a player placing an entire stack on the gaming table according to a predetermined bet amount for a game to be played. Initiating an interrupt signal to interrupt a normal winning flow of the game, whereby the interrupt signal assigns a winning priority to the player based on the predetermined bet. Comparing a game sequence of the player with an existing first winning sequence complying with the betting criterion on the gaming table. Restricting addition of playing cards on the gaming table while the comparing is going on; and allowing a person to play for a betting amount lower than lower than a value of the betting criterion for creating a lower value winning sequence; and restricting the player to play for the lower value winning sequence to maintain playing quorum for the winning sequence.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.

These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter which contains illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

No drawings

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

When an “All-in Freeze” is called, the flop is interrupted. The players who will choose to call this “All-in Freeze” accepts the fact that their game will be compared to the player having gone “All-in Freeze” based on the cards composing the flop that are already on the table, no more cards will be added. Accordingly, there are three stages when an “All-in Freeze” can be made. First there is the preflop, then the flop and the last stage is when the turn comes out. An “All-in Freeze” cannot be made after the river card is out since the river marks the end of the flop. Also, the only way a player can announce an “All-in Freeze” is by putting himself his entire stack in play. Rules can be developed to modify this aspect of the game, but this is how it should be by default.

In Professional Hold'em poker, the “normal” “All-in” still exists. Therefor if a player makes an “All-in” attempt and that a minimum of one player calls this “All-in”, no matter when the “All-in” is called, the game of the two players will be compared once the entire flop (Flop, turn and river) will be seen as for in Texas Hold'em.

“All-In Freeze” as Compared to “All-In”:

Because there is two types of “All-in” in Professional Hold'em Poker, a second rule had to be applied to make the game more interesting. The first “All-in” to be announced is the one that will prevail over the other one for the entire hand. This means that if a player goes “All-in”, any other player following him that makes a call or chooses to bet more will only be able to announce a “All-in” during the rest of the hand; the “All-in Freeze” option will not be available to the players having more funds left after the initial “All-in” is announced.

If a normal “All in” is announced first, the process of the hand is exactly the same as for Poker Texas Hold'em. The same logic is applied for the “All-in Freeze”. If a player goes “All-in Freeze”, even if a minimum of two players make a call or choose to bet more, they will not be able to announce a normal “All-in”. Therefor no matter what happens after the “All-in Freeze” is announced, no more cards will be added to the flop.

What needs to be specified is that if a player goes “All-in Freeze”, any other player is free to bet more without putting himself “All-in Freeze” (The bet only has to be a valid one or else it will also become an “All-in Freeze”.) Also if a player (B) calls an “All-in Freeze” made by a player (A) and that a player (C) chooses to make a bet or announces an “All-in Freeze” that would increase the necessary amount to call, if player (B) has more funds left he can choose to fold to player (C).

When a player is low in stack and he cannot pay his big or small blind, he's put automatically “All-in”. That player has no say in which kind of “All-in” he's in, by default it is a normal “All-in” unless the rules of the tournament say otherwise. So because that one single player has been put “All-in”, no “All-in Freeze” can be made during the entire hand.

Because the players games will be compared without the five cards of a flop when an “All-in Freeze” is called, the method used to compare the strength of the hands is needed. When there is a flop, the best combination of five cards will win the hand. When the flop reaches the turn, the best combination of five cards will still win the hand. But when it comes to the preflop, it is important to note that it is the strength of the best two cards that counts and not the potential strength. Lets compare Ace,3 to Ace,2 suited. Ace,2 suited has 26.60% chances to win and Ace,3 has 26.43% chances to win. So Ace,2 suited is a better potential hand to win, but if an “All-in Freeze” is called Ace,3 wins because it is the stronger preflop because of the 3. Another example would be Ace,King versus Ace,King suited. It's obvious that Ace,King suited as more chances to win. But if an “All-in Freeze” is called and these two hands are compared preflop, a tie will be announced because two cards of the same suit cannot be called a flush.

Requirements to Make an “All-In Freeze”

If bets have been made and that a player cannot cover that bet, he cannot announce an “All-in Freeze”, he will only be able to make a normal “All-in”. In other words, an “All-in Freeze” has to come as a raise. For that to happen, the player announcing “All-in Freeze” has to place a minimum bet of one token; place a bet equal to the big blind plus one token or call a bet plus one token. If a player is able to reach these requirements, then he will be able to go “All-in Freeze”. If not, he can only use the conventional “All-in”.

Professional Hold'em Poker is a style of poker best played as a no limit game. This having been said, all other rules of Professional Hold'em Poker are the same that exist in Poker Texas Hold'em. Therefor every rule that can be applied to Poker Texas Hold'em can be applied to Professional Hold'em Poker without changing its nature.

Hand Strength Table Preflop:

1 AA 2 KK 3 QQ 4 JJ 5 10, 10 6 9, 9 7 8, 8 8 7, 7 9 6, 6 10 5, 5 11 4, 4 12 3, 3 13 2, 2 14 AK 15 AQ 16 AJ 17 A10 18 A9 19 A8 20 A7 21 A6 22 A5 23 A4 24 A3 25 A2 26 KQ 27 KJ 28 K10 29 K9 30 K8 31 K7 32 K6 33 K5 34 K4 35 K3 36 K2 37 Q, J 38 Q10 39 Q9 40 Q8 41 Q7 42 Q6 43 0, 5 44 Q4 45 Q3 46 Q2 47 J10 48 J9 49 J8 50 J7 51 J6 52 J5 53 J4 54 J3 55 J2 56 10, 9 57 10, 8 58 10, 7 59 10, 6 60 10, 5 61 10, 4 62 10, 3 63 10, 2 64 9, 8 65 9, 7 66 9, 6 67 9, 5 68 9, 4 69 9, 3 70 9, 2 71 8, 7 72 8, 6 73 8, 5 74 8, 4 75 8, 3 76 8, 2 77 7, 6 78 7, 5 79 7, 4 80 7, 3 81 7, 2 82 6, 5 83 6, 4 84 6, 3 85 6, 2 86 5, 4 87 5, 3 88 5, 2 89 4, 3 90 4, 2 91 3, 2

As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. 

1. A method for creating a winning sequence after meeting a betting criterion on a gaming table in a gaming system, the method comprising: a player placing an entire stack on the gaming table according to a predetermined bet amount for a game to be played; initiating an interrupt signal to interrupt a normal winning flow of the game, whereby the interrupt signal assigns a winning priority to the player based on the predetermined bet; comparing a game sequence of the player with an existing first winning sequence complying with the betting criterion on the gaming table; restricting addition of playing cards on the gaming table while the comparing is going on; and allowing a person to play for a betting amount lower than lower than a value of the betting criterion for creating a lower value winning sequence; and restricting the player to play for the lower value winning sequence to maintain playing quorum for the winning sequence.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating an interrupt signal is interrupting the normal winning flow of a poker game before a river card is played on the gaming table, whereby river card is a final card of one gaming cycle on the gaming table.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein interrupting the normal winning flow of the poker game comprises winning a poker hand without seeing an entire flop sequence while no player folds playing hands on the gaming table.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the river card player marks end of the flop sequence.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the existing first winning sequence is compared with the winning sequence based on a set of playing cards already on the gaming table and the set of playing cards composing the flop.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the winning sequence is created during at least one of the following stages: a preflop stage; a flop stage; and a turn come out stage.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein both the winning sequence and the existing first winning sequence prevail over the lower value winning sequence on the gaming table.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising restricting entry of the winning sequence and the first winning sequence into the lower value winning sequence such that prejudice against an equally likely winning situation for the lower value winning sequence is overcome.
 9. A method for comparing strength of a plurality of hands in a betting game played on a gaming table in a gaming system, the method comprising: creating a winning sequence for a best combination of a predetermined number of playing cards for a flop sequence of the betting game; counting a strength of a best pair of cards for a preflop sequence of the betting game; and assigning prevailing priority to a freeze winning sequence over remaining winning sequences on the gaming table in the gaming system.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the creating a winning sequence for a best combination of a predetermined number of playing cards for a flop sequence of the betting game comprises: a best combination of five cards winning a playing hand; and a best combination of five cards winning a playing hand when a flop reaches a playing turn.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein counting a strength of a best pair of cards for a preflop sequence of the betting game comprises counting strength of best pair of cards and not counting a potential strength of a playing hand for a preflop sequence.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the assigning prevailing priority to a freeze winning sequence over remaining winning sequences on the gaming table in the gaming system comprises assigning prevailing priority to a stronger preflop sequence.
 13. A system comprising a gaming table; a deck of playing cards; a gaming dealer; a plurality of players, wherein the system is operable by a method of: a player placing an entire stack on the gaming table according to a predetermined bet amount for a game to be played; initiating an interrupt signal to interrupt a normal winning flow of the game comprising winning a poker hand without seeing an entire flop sequence while no player folds playing hands on the gaming table, whereby the interrupt signal assigns a winning priority to the player based on the predetermined bet; comparing a game sequence of the player with an existing first winning sequence complying with the betting criterion on the gaming table; restricting addition of playing cards on the gaming table while the comparing is going on; and allowing a person to play for a betting amount lower than lower than a value of the betting criterion for creating a lower value winning sequence; and restricting the player to play for the lower value winning sequence to maintain playing quorum for the winning sequence.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the gaming table comprises a staking table.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein the gaming table comprises a betting table configured for playing poker based games.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein the gaming dealer is a croupier.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein the gaming dealer collects and pays bets at the gaming table.
 18. The system of claim 13, wherein the deck of playing cards is configured for a: game of betting; and a game of poker.
 19. The system of claim 13, wherein a flop sequence comprises dealing of first three face-up cards on the gaming table in community card poker variants.
 20. The system of claim 13, comprising a preflop sequence of playing cards further comprising a player having at least two playing cards in hand with no cards on the gaming table yet. 